A Betting Man
by BittersweetPoet
Summary: A bet between Mindy and Danny leads them down a path they never saw coming, and from which they never can return. READ!


**A/N: **So I've been slacking on updating _Fonder_ (my sincerest apologies to those who read it!), but I've been working on two other fics for TMP, and this is one of them! I always love a premise that involves a bet, and thus is born this story. I'm a POV writer, and I'm thinking of alternating between Danny and Mindy's perspectives, but I'm not sure. Your input would be appreciated! So please read and I hope you enjoy, and for those reading _Fonder_, I'll be updating soon!

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Mindy Project.**

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**A Betting Man**

**Chapter One**

**She's All That**

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Mindy's POV

My office was closed and locked, the only light in the room emitting from my Mac desktop.

I ignored the continuous knocking on my door and leaned in closer to the screen, willing myself to block out the noise distracting me from the classic film playing, _She's All That_. Freddie Prinze Jr. was standing in awe at the bottom of the staircase while Laney—whose actual name I didn't know because she was in nothing more epic than _She's All That_—descended, transformation from ugly duckling to beautiful swan complete.

"Dr. L! We're not leaving until you come out!" Morgan's voice broke through my enrapture with the movie.

I growled while pausing it, then stood and walked to the door. Only opening it a slither, I peered out at Morgan, Betsy, Tamra, Beverly, Peter, and Jeremy. "What do you guys want? I'm super busy with work… and stuff."

"Really?" Morgan asked while shoving the door open, eliciting an angry, "HEY!" from my mouth that did nothing to stop the group from entering.

Morgan picked up an empty container of Chinese food. "Because it looks like you're spending another Friday night being lame."

Jeremy turned on the overhead light as Beverly wandered behind my desk. "Are you watching porn?"

Peter quickly hurried behind my desk and took a seat before letting out a disappointed sigh. "No, just some weak chick flick."

"Ooh, which one?" Tamra asked, also making her way behind my desk.

"Okay," I spoke up, overwhelmed by the amount of people in my space. "All of you out. Now!"

"But, Dr. L, we want you to come out with us. We're going to a new bar uptown."

I smiled at Betsy. "Oh sweet Betsy, I can't go. I, um, I have too much work to do here."

"Such as?" Jeremy asked suspiciously.

Pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose, I slowly answered, "Well… Erika Gilbert's twins are a huge concern to me. They're, um, positioned oddly, and so I want to review some x-rays to determine the best way to deliver them. Yeah, so ya see, I'm super busy."

Little did they know I had delivered Erika's twins last—

"You delivered those twins last month, Mindy." Jeremy said loudly, placing his hands on his hips. "Cut the excuses. Since you returned home from Haiti, you're always holed up in this office, either working or watching sappy movies."

"Hey, you say sappy like it's a bad thing!" I argued.

"But Dr. L, how are you gonna find your own happy ending—"

"Or get laid!" Morgan added with a raised brow, gaining a high five from Peter.

"—if you just stay here watching other people's happy endings on your computer?"

I stepped to Betsy and stroked her cheek. "Oh sweet, dear, innocent Betsy, I don't believe that I'm destined to have a happy ending. Some girls have to accept this fate. Girls like me, our purpose is to make a happy ending less common for the lucky few in the world who will obtain one. At least I'm helping someone else, maybe even you, dear, sweet, sweet Betsy."

"Stop it already, Mindy!" Morgan groaned. "It doesn't always have to be about a guy. We are your friends and confidantes and, some of us, even your former lovers… like me—"

"No, Morgan, that's a lie." I stated.

"Eh, not really."

"Blatant lie," I continued.

"Agree to disagree. Point is! We just want to spend some time with you out of this office. We want to see you get hammered, get loose like you used to be!"

"I was never loose."

He stepped forward and put his hands on my shoulder. "We just want to see you have fun, Dr. L."

I chewed at my lip from left to right in contemplation. I hadn't gone out in a ridiculously long time. It must've been at least two months since Gwen dragged me out for a complete fail of a girls night. Right before we entered some hip club we waited forty-five minutes in line to enter, Riley's friend's mom called Gwen, telling her Riley was sick. I complained the entire ride to the girl's house about how long we had waited, though secretly I had been dreading going out, and to a club no less. I was in my 30s—I didn't want to be surrounded by carefree 20-somethings, so ignorant to the realities of adulthood.

But then on the ride home, Riley vomited all over my favorite black dress, of which I still couldn't remove the odor, completely ending any chance of reviving girls night.

Since then, I just hadn't felt motivated to socialize with anyone. I thought Casey and I were going to settle down, get married, start a family and have five babies running around. After our breakup, it just seemed wrong to hop right back in the dating pool and start from scratch. No, wrong wasn't the word I was looking for. It was unfair. It was totally unfair! I had put a lot of time and effort into making Casey and me work, and because it didn't, I had to go through the whole process of marketing yourself to a potential, annoying guy who probably only wanted some ass, then awkwardly dating him? No! That phase could take anywhere between two months to a year, and I just didn't feel like giving anyone that kind of time!

I wasn't ready to accept that I'd have to begin all over again in the love department.

So I had been in denial for months until this moment, where my coworkers and friends were forcing me to decide whether I'd stay in my cocoon of an office or take control and get back out there, not necessarily to get a new guy, but to just hang with friends.

Hanging with friends didn't seem so bad at all.

But then again…

Sex would be nice.

Maybe I could find a random hookup—but not too random because I didn't trust myself not to end up almost screwing a prostitute again.

"Fine," I finally said, standing up straighter as a slow grin spread onto my face. "I'll go."

"Yes! Nice!" Morgan cheered.

"But," I interrupted their excitement, "I need to get sexy first. For my debut night on the town, I want to look hot."

"Oh, I see," Tamra nodded her head knowingly, "you're tryna be like Laney in _She's All That_. Make your big entrance."

I thought for a moment then said, "I actually hate that movie. It basically promotes changing everything that makes you unique and conforming to the societal norms just to get some guy. It's patriarchy at its finest, which is patriarchy at its worst."

"Mindy's suddenly a feminist, I see," Jeremy mumbled to himself.

"Then why don't you go out dressed like that?" Beverly asked, pointing to the purple, unflattering, but comfortable, scrubs I wore.

That was a good question.

"B-because," I stuttered, "tonight I'm not looking for a boyfriend or the love of my life! I'm looking to just feel hot and sexy and _unattainable_."

It was a lie. I wanted to be attained tonight... as in get laid. Bad.

They didn't need to know that part. Especially not Peter and Morgan. They often got way too invested in my love life.

"Well get on to it, girl!" Peter said, clapping his hands. "And don't get sidetracked watching porn," he laughed then looked at me curiously, "Wait... do you watch porn? Because that's totally normal. I wouldn't judge you at all."

"Okay, that's enough. All of you get out, and I promise I'll meet you there in an hour."

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Two hours later I stood alone in my office, wearing a tight red, long-sleeve bodycon midi dress that dipped dangerously low in the front, showing plenty of cleavage and some of my abdomen, hugging all of my curves just right. I didn't have much jewelry at the office, but the long, gold teardrop earrings paired with a thick, gold choker looked great with the gold platform snake patterned heels I adorned.

I looked fucking amazing.

After turning the lights off, I shut the office door behind me, hastily coating my lips in a burgundy lipstick. I paused outside my door and placed my purse down, then began twisting my hair up into a messy knot on top of my head.

"Wow."

I turned, a few tendrils of hair escaping and haloing my face perfectly.

Win.

"Danny, hey. Are you heading to the bar tonight with everyone?"

His eyes were glued to my body, and I couldn't control the heat emanating from me as a result. In that moment I felt like Laney, except I hadn't changed to get Danny to look at me the way he was looking at me now. But I somewhat understood why Laney changed everything about herself because, right then, I loved the way Danny appreciatively stared at every inch of me, like he wanted to take me right then and there.

I almost felt naked.

Or felt like I wanted to get naked.

_Stop it, _I thought to myself, trying to erase the idea from my mind of Danny ever staring at me naked.

I cleared my throat and smiled to cover the inner turmoil I was experiencing. But then I saw Danny still staring at me and an uncharacteristic wave of shyness washed over me. I was never shy, but I also wasn't used to Danny staring so lustfully at me.

I mean, at least not so blatantly because, let's be honest, he's had to have stared at me when I was all dolled up, even if I had never seen it. It was obvi a given.

"Hey, eyes up here." I said jokingly.

He shook his head from whatever stupor he was in and brought his eyes up to meet mine. Then he smiled, and I felt myself smile back. "Yeah," he finally responded. "Yeah, I mean, I wasn't gonna go, but..." He clapped his hands together, "But I could use a night off."

"Yeah you could. I'm heading over now. Do you want to share a cab?"

"Nah, go ahead. I'll be there soon. Gotta finish up some stuff here."

I nodded with a small smile and waved at him. While making my way out of the practice, Danny called after me, "Hey, Min," I turned at his words. "Uh, you look really good. Beautiful."

His smooth tone was unexpected, and I wanted to turn back to him and ask exactly what he meant when he said it like that, but I didn't want to scare him away. I liked his sexy tone, and I loved that it was directed at me.

_Are you out of your mind? This is freaking Danny!_ I thought, probably looking bananas to Danny as I stood frozen with my back to him, not responding to his compliment.

Slowly, I spun towards him, a fake grin plastered across my face. I tried not to meet his intense gaze, but it was magnetic. I felt like I couldn't look away. "Thanks, Danny," I squeaked out, clearing my throat shortly after. "Thanks... I'll see you soon."

"Yeah, yeah," he was Danny again, and broke our stare, averting his gaze from focusing on me, "Yeah, see ya there."

I abruptly about-faced. I couldn't stand to be there a second longer with so much sexual tension between us. Where had it come from? Did my dress have magical powers? If I could possibly seduce Danny in it, who else could I conquer tonight?

_Do you really want to conquer anyone else?, _I thought as I hopped on the elevator.

The answer was no.

"Ugh, stop it you horny perv," I grumbled to myself, so immersed in my thoughts I didn't see the older gentleman standing next to me.

He stared at me, horrified, as if I had said something truly deplorable. I rolled my eyes and said, "Cool it, Mister, I was talking to myself, because I'm a horny perv, and I'm not ashamed! I'm proud to live in a day and age where women are allowed to be horny pervs and declare it in elevators like it's nothing."

He nodded with wide eyes, "No, I-I like horny pervs."

"Ew," I said as the elevator doors opened, "perv!"

And I shuffled out of the building and onto the street to hail a cab. As I stood with my finger raised in the air, waiting for an empty taxi to pull alongside me, I couldn't control the overwhelming sense that something amazing was going to happen tonight.

An image of Danny lustfully staring at me entered my mind, and a wide grin lit up my face.

Whatever happened tonight, I was ready.

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**A/N: And that was Chapter One! Hope you guys like it so far! I'm excited to write this fic. I just need to learn to find a balance between writing it and _Fonder_ and my other one that I shan't talk about yet (but get excited for that!). Anyway, I'd love to read your feedback, and if you have any criticisms, I ask you keep it constructive. I don't understand why some folks leave negative reviews, so keep it constructive and let me know what you think! Until next chapter :)**


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